Tired of waiting on the line for answers, a rapidly swelling group of Gunnedah residents are taking their fight for an internet connection to the next level.
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Workers tired of not having access to work sites, students unable to complete assessments and children who can’t download music and movies are all among those who say they have had enough of no ADSL.
Gunnedah mum Louise Chad, who lives in Bellevue Estate, has started a Facebook page with the help of Di Hobden.
The page, Gunnedah residents without ADSL, gained more than 170 members in its first day.
“I have just had enough,” Mrs Chad said.
“Something needs to happen. We have gone on for too long this way.
“We have all been fighting this fight with Telstra individually, but hopefully, as a collective, we can get something happening.”
The Facebook site has been asking people to send their addresses so a list of those without ADSL can be compiled.
Some of the roads included on the list so far are: Blackjack Road, Reading Road, Bushs Lane, Kerry Elizabeth Drive, Harrie Rowland Place, Booloocooroo Road, Galway Avenue, Carlyon Avenue, Eveleigh Road, Old Bluevale Road, Orange Grove Road, Quia Road and Ross Road.
Even Gunnedah Shire Council has reported problems.
“Council has also had trouble getting internet access provided in areas such as the Waste Management Facility and have made several representations to Telstra sbout the lack of access in that area in particular, with no success,” a council spokesperson said yesterday.
The spokesperson said if the ADSL connection was a problem for many Gunnedah residents, council could take the matter to the federal government and Telstra.
Residents have been told by Telstra there are no ports available or they are too far from the exchange.
The only options available are to install a satellite dish or rely on mobile wifi devices.
Mrs Chad said when the family had lived at their last Gunnedah address, their ADSL connection offered 100 gigabytes and a home phone connection for the same price they now paid for 15GB and no phone connection through mobile wifi.
“I am completing a diploma in building design,” she said.
“Moving to a location with no ADSL has been a shock to the system.
“My course is all research-based. They give you some notes but you need to look up standards and get ideas and inspiration online.”
She said she had resorted to using the free internet access at Gunnedah Library for assessment, but her session had timed out halfway through a test.
After seeking answers from Telstra, Mrs Chad took her frustration to the Gunnedah Mums Facebook page where she got an “overwhelming” response from people in the same situation.
She decided to start the Gunnedah residents without ADSL Facebook page, and now has a dedicated email address, gunnedah.adsl@gmail.com
The new group plans to put together a survey – to be available both online and in paper copies – to gather information about Gunnedah residents’ experiences with internet connections.
They are also planning to write letters to Gunnedah’s state and federal representatives.
Gunnedah Shire councillor Rebecca Ryan said she had been surprised to learn so many people seemed to have no access to ADSL.
She said if enough people were impacted, she would be happy to take the matter to council to lobby state and federal members for better connections.
“People might say it is only the internet, but the reality is that is now our information portal,” Cr Ryan said.
“People need it for their banking and invoices – there is a real risk of there being a disconnect in people who have access to information and people who don’t.”
She said internet capability was also a factor in attracting new businesses to the area.
Donna Swain: I can relate and am experiencing everyone of these stories. We are 25km from Gunnedah towards Tamworth. Not only do we pay more for less, the speeds are also slow, unreliable and are not fast enough to stream video. On another note I have just got a land line back after three weeks of trying to run our businesses from a mobile that doesn’t operate in the house. NOT HAPPY TELSTRA.
Dianne Boyd van Os: We are 2kms past rugby club and pay $59.95 for 8gb wireless. I won’t pay Telstra for more. There are times when this doesn’t even work. We use our phone plans to get more access. Less than 10km from post office. It’s deplorable. Rural towns should be higher on the list when it comes to upgrading internet. It’s also hard with children trying to do school work too as more and more the internet is required.
Nina Jordan: I am in town. I have wireless ADSL ( which our whole family relies on ). The majority of the time the service is slow at best, continuously drops out and and this current time I have no landline or internet but, “don’t worry madam a technician will be here on the 10th of feb to fix it”!! Even the in-town service is not so good, so be careful what you wish for.
A Telstra spokesman said today the availability of ADSL to each customer was dependent on a number of factors, including transmission limits from the exchange and the presence of line extenders to the home to increase the range of standard phone service.
“Residents on the outer edges of Gunnedah may be located beyond the transmission limits of the Gunnedah exchange and roadside cabinets, and therefore are unable to receive an ADSL service from Telstra,” the spokesman said.
“Representatives at the Telstra store in Gunnedah will be able to provide details about individual cases.
“The availability of ADSL ports on our network changes over time with both demand and with upgrades to the network. We continually assess demand to help determine where upgrades need to occur.
“Currently the ports in the cabinet which serves customers in the area around McCalls Road and Hunt Road are all fully allocated and cannot accept new ADSL connections at this time.”
The spokesman said Telstra offered “high-speed wireless broadband and alternatives”, with more details available at www.telstra.com.au/broadband/mobile-broadband
AN NBN spokesperson said yesterday Gunnedah was included in NBN’s three-year construction update.
About 4100 premises will get fixed-line technology, with work set to begin in the first half of 2017.
People can register to keep up to date with what is happening at their address on nbnco.com.au
“Everyone in Australia will get access with one of our technologies,” the spokesperson said.
“The more regional areas, or areas outside of towns, will get fixed wireless and that may not yet be included in the three-year update.”
